08/18/2017
Well today is the day I finally get to write a review about the AWE Focus ST catback exhaust.
Now AWE has always been making performance products for euro spec type cars (Porsche, Audi, McLaren, BMW, etc). Well now they have started engineering and manufacturing for the domestic car markets, starting with the S500 ('15-'18) Ford Mustang exhausts. Now they have entered the Focus ST and RS markets with a variety of catback exhausts, and we know there's no reason to not be pumped about it.
When AWE was looking for a Focus ST to use for R&D I messaged a guy named Josh Davis. We got to talking and about a week later my 2016 Focus ST was sitting at AWE state-of-the-art facility in Horsham, PA. My wife and I got to see AWE's facility and it's really awesome to know all of their exhausts are handcrafted right there from start to finish (USA! USA!). Josh was great with communicating to me about the car (my car never sees a shop let alone a manufacturing/r&d facility), and would let me know that they didn't like this one exhaust they tried or they liked this but are gonna try something else to see if they can make it sound better and perform better.
Some background: my car had an MBRP 3" catback exhaust on it when it was brought there. Now I actually liked the MBRP because I could hear the car when it started and it was there when I revved it. The MBRP did drone at certain rpms. As soon as I got my car back from AWE I immediately noticed the drone was gone and the sound was more aggressive yet refined. AWE deployed their proprietary drone solution, 180Technology, that eliminates the drone and fine tunes the acoustics (you can really hear the turbo spool). I was told by Josh that when they put the car on the dyno they were a little shocked to see the car made 280fwhp with just the exhaust and a turbosmart bov on their Mustang dyno. No I do not have a Cobb tuner or any tuner on the car.
AWE made a couple versions of the catback exhaust. The Touring and Track. The touring, which I have on my car, sounds like the focus should. Not loud at idle, but you know the car is there, little louder when cruising, but ABSOLUTELY zero drone, and when you want to get on it, you know it's there. I can not complain about this exhaust because my 2yr old son falls asleep in his car seat while cruising at highway speeds.
Now I've never really done a review before, well publicly like this so I'm probably missing stuff, but if you have any questions about the exhaust please ask me and I'll try to give my best answer.
Thank you
